The best nature for Rookidee in Pokemon Sword and Shield

The Flying-type Pokemon Rookidee can, with a good nature, become a defensive behemoth by the time it evolves into Corvinight.

As Rookidee’s final evolution, Corviknight comes pretty close to having the ideal stats of a defensive Pokemon. It has an exceptional HP (98), a great base defense (105) and even fairly decent Special Defense (85). This gives Rookidee a large amount of freedom when selecting good natures to have as well as moveset. Depending on what a player wants to do with Rookidee, they might prefer certain natures to others.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinion of the writer.

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The best nature for Rookidee in Pokemon Sword and Shield

Image via Tons of Facts

Both defensive and offensive Rookidee can be effective. While the defensive variant can wall many Pokemon, the offensive set has the capability to 6-0 battles. This would make Careful the best nature for Rookidee, which raises Special Defense and lowers Special Attack.

This may seem counterintuitive on a more physically defensive Pokemon, but the reason it’s so effective is because of Bulk Up. Of all the Pokemon that can run Bulk Up sets well (Obstagoon, Cinderace, Swampert, etc.), Rookidee could be the most powerful of them all.

With a special defensive nature, Rookidee will be a decent special wall when it evolves to Corviknight. It can take a few powerful special attacks, but not too many before it needs to heal up. After Bulk Up, Corviknight becomes amazingly physically defense, even without a defensive nature. At this point, Corviknight can wall special attacks and becomes about unkillable.

Since it is so durable, Corviknight can even Bulk Up twice to ensure that it gets an incredibly high attack boost. Corviknight also doesn’t care about taking damage while it’s boosting, since it can just heal back up to full health with Roost. A player can simply rinse and repeat this process until Corviknight destroys every Pokemon the opponent has.

For players who want a defensive Rookidee, however, they would prefer an Impish nature, which raises Defense but lowers Special Attacks. This simply maximizes Rookidee’s defense to the point where it won’t die to any physical attack.

This variant of Rookidee can be very effective when taking Gym battles into account. Once it gains Steel typing, Corviknight walls 6/9 of the Gyms. Not only does its typing naturally resist Grass, Fairy, Dragon, Ice and Rock, but the Water Gym, Fighting Gym, and Dark Gym mostly feature physical attackers. In any of these battles, Corviknight can simply Toxic the opponents, drain their health and Roost off any small damage. On top of all that, Corviknight gets a powerful Body Press, since that move takes Defense into account rather than Attack.

In terms of other options, Rookidee has a few that aren’t as effective as Careful or Impish, but can still work. Even though it doesn’t have the highest base Attack (87), Corviknight does get a very nice well of physical attacks, making an Adamant (+Atk, -Spcl Atk) set somewhat viable. This Steel/Flying Pokemon can run Brave Bird, Iron Head, U-turn and the new move Dual Wingbeat. Even on a set like this, however, Corviknight will appreciate Roost.